Think Fast

After only one year of running, inspired by angioplasty to clear a clogged coronary artery, John Cahill, 66, ran his first marathon—in 3:04. At 73, he ran 3:05 and after recovering from a broken hip ran 3:30 at 77 and 3:33 at 78. At about 40, Joanne Garuccio began triathlon training as a way to keep in shape for teaching alpine skiing. Recently, at 51, she won her sixth age group World Triathlon Championship. Their secret, that allowed them to rise rapidly to the elite level and stay there for more than a decade, is their ability to focus their minds to optimize their physical skills—applied "psychomechanics."

Biomechanics

While neither Cahill nor Garuccio have exceptional biomechanical talents, they both possess keen analytical minds and body awareness. After contrasting video of themselves running with tapes of elite runners, they quickly recognized the potentially huge performance gains that could be realized by improving the efficiency of each stride a fraction of a percentage. They noted that while they ran virtually upright, landing heel first, with low arm swings and foot carriage, 1984 Olympic Marathon Champions Carlos Lopez and Joan Benoit Samuelson both ran with slight forward leans, landing nearly flat-footed under their bodies, and with more compact and higher arm swings and heel kicks.

When I started coaching each of them, I suggested that they stand up straight with their hips, spine and shoulders vertically aligned (as conventional wisdom still recommends as "proper" posture). Then I asked them, "What do you feel?" "Nothing," they replied. "Now, raise your hands to heart height, pull your elbows back forcing your chest forward a little, and allow your shoulders to shift forward of your hips a bit and tell me what you feel." As they did so, their faces lit up as they responded, "My body wants to go forward all by itself!"

Emulating the Elite

Check out the sequence of photos I took of Sammy Kipketer running a 13:00 5K in Carlsbad, CA. Where are his shoulders relative to his hips throughout his stride cycle? This posture gives him extended forward momentum with each stride—saving energy while sustaining speed—a decided advantage over the "upright" runners in his wake.

Kipketer’s compact arm swing and high heel kick reveal another advantage. Try this: stand up, straighten your arms at your sides and swing them back and forth as fast as you can. Now, bend at the elbow and simulate Sammy’s arm swing. Which is faster? Do the same with your leg swing. The principle here is that a shorter lever swings quicker than a longer lever for the same energy expenditure. A low hand/foot carriage is a waste of energy and a thief of speed.

What about foot contact? To land on your heel, your leg has to be straight, which means that the shock is sent up the skeleton to be dissipated in your joints. After years of analyzing the "balanced forward" running postures of Kenyans and Ethiopians, I developed a theory of why they run so lightly and fluidly. Their "up close and personal" stories always contain video of slight African children running barefooted back and forth to school while carrying a book pack. If these children ran heel toe, what would happen? Acting on this observation, Garuccio, who has had both knees scoped to repair damage, decided to warm up barefoot before her running workouts. The few minutes of "natural" running carried over into her "shoed" running. She could run faster and without pain while "imagining" she was still bare-footed.

We also found that she spent less time on the ground. Her foot plant had become her "foot strike," similar to that characteristic of the elite African runners. Quicker foot strikes, landing farther under your body, result in faster turnover while sustaining a normal stride length—and the elastic (plyometric) effect saves muscle energy.

Psychomechanics

So how do you use this information to refine your technique? First, you must see yourself run by studying video or reflections of yourself in mall windows. Then sit down and commit Kipketer’s photos to memory. Mimic his movements in a mirror. Make a list of adjectives that describe his movements such as "hands up, elbows back, chest forward... Flyyyyy," "short forearms, long hind legs," or "light and quick, light and quick, forward, forward." You are looking for image enhancing words that will communicate to your body what you want it to do—audiogenics.

Now lace ’em up and get ready for some "flight training." Before taking off, lift your hands up to heart height, pull your elbows back, thrust your chest forward, and start repeating a set of audiogenics phrases—then release the brakes and start running. You will probably feel great at first and then start to slip back into old movement habits. Stop, regroup, and go through the drill again. It will take a couple weeks of focused effort to reprogram your running style. Experiment with different words and images and find out what works for you. Learn to read your body’s feedback like a racecar driver reads instruments.

Training and Racing Strategies

The absolute foundation of your racing potential is not just your ability to absorb your training, but how biomechanically sound your running style is. Ignoring it leads to injury and frustration.

While racing, you can control only a handful of factors—posture, stride dynamics and breathing. These are also the appropriate mental foci while racing.

Elite runners break the race down into segments—warm-up, start, early miles, up/down hills, middle miles, finish—each with its own set of focus objectives for optimal posture, stride dynamics and breathing rhythms. For example, early in the race, the focus is on rhythm. "Light and quick," is one of my favorite early race mantras.

In "bad patches" top runners know that negative self-talk is the idiot light going off on their dashboards telling them, "Blood sugar low—double shots of aid at next station." They offset the negative talk by initiating audiogenic phrases or, when really in trouble, counting exhales in series. You can only do one verbal task at a time—make it positive.

Finally, they look at each race as a test of their training and preparation, not of their self-worth. And most of all, they love to run. As Frank Shorter once said, "Running fast is more fun than running slowly." So prepare to have as much fun as you possibly can.

Tom Miller has a doctorate in Exercise and Sports Science. He teaches at the Utah campuses of the University of Phoenix. For an autographed copy of his book, Programmed to Run (2002, Human Kinetics), or to contact him go to www.scooterbikerun.com.

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